This invention relates to automotive seats and the like and, more particularly, to improvements in a method for making automobile seats, more specifically, automobile seat backs.
Automobile seat backs of the type herein contemplated are best exemplified by the front seat back where the entire frame is covered, both front and back. Typically, such a seat back includes an interior frame, an exterior bag-like structure extending over the interior frame having a front panel presenting an exterior surface at the front of the interior frame and an opposite interior surface and a back panel presenting an exterior surface at the back of the interior frame and an opposite interior surface and a body of foam material between the interior surface of the front panel and the interior frame.
An exemplary disclosure of a seat back of the type herein contemplated is contained in U.S. Pat. No. 3,878,277 with reference to FIGS. 5-8. The seat back of these Figures is made by first placing a piece of material which is to provide the front panel onto a vacuum mold with the exterior surface in face-to-face relation with a mold surface of a mold. A vacuum is then drawn through the mold to conform the exterior surface of the front panel with the mold surface which is the shape it will finally assume. Thereafter, a mold frame is placed over the exposed interior surface of the front panel around its perimeter to clamp the perimeter or peripheral edges of the front panel to the mold. Foaming material is then inserted within the frame on the interior surface of the shaped front panel and the foaming material is cured to form a body of foam material integrally united with the interior surface of the front panel. Thereafter, a piece of material, which is to provide the back panel is placed in generally coextensive relation over the exterior surface of the front panel with the exterior surface thereof facing the exterior surface of the front panel. The two generally coextensive panels with their exterior surfaces facing one another are then sewn along abutting peripheral edges that will be the opposite sides and top of the seat back when complete. When this sewing has been completed, the two panels form a bag-like structure having an integral foam body on the exposed interior surface of the front panel. The bag-like structure in this condition appears in inverted relation to the way it will finally appear. Consequently, the next step is to invert the bag-like structure so that the exterior surfaces of the front and back panels which were originally inside facing one another are now on the outside facing in opposite directions. The seat back is completed by mounting the inverted bag-like structure over the back seat interior frame and making whatever securement is appropriate along the bottom.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,916 discloses a similar final seat back configuration. The process of making it differs in that the front panel and rear panel are initially sewn together into a bag-like structure and then inverted so as to be telescoped or slid over a tongue-like mold so that the front panel extends over the mold surface with its exterior surface in face-to-face relation with the mold surface and its interior surface exposed. A cooperating mold is then moved into contact with the exposed interior surface of the front panel to mold the front panel between the two molds into its final shape. The cooperating mold is then removed and a body of foam material preformed about the interior frame of the seat and having a face of a shape conforming to the shape of the front panel is then adhered in face-to-face relation with the front panel, as by an adhesive. Thereafter, the back panel is inverted over the top of the foam body and interior frame and suitable securement is made along the bottom to complete the sea back.
Application Ser. No. 07/194,530 discloses a similar seat back construction which is made by a method which includes the steps of initially sewing the front and back panels together into a bag-like structure and then inverting the bag-like structure so as to be telescoped or slid over a tongue-like mold in much the same manner as was done in the initial steps of U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,916. The remaining steps were more in accordance with those of U.S. Pat. No. 3,878,277 than U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,916. That is, instead of molding the front panel between the tongue-like mold and a cooperating mold, a vacuum is used to draw the exterior surface of the front panel into conformity with the tongue-like mold surface. A feature of the disclosed method of the application is that the seams sewn into the bag-like structure were used as stops in conjunction with the tongue-like vacuum mold to insure a properly controlled amount of stretch in the front panel material as it is drawn by vacuum into shaped conformance with the mold surface. Thereafter, foaming material is inserted within a peripheral frame of the mold assembly and cured in integral contact with the interior surface of the front panel. The last two steps are to reinvert the bag-like structure with the foam thereon and mount the reinverted bag-like structure over the back seat frame and secure its bottom.
In practicing the method of the application, it has been found that a quality product can be made without the necessity of inverting the initially formed bag-like structure to slide it on the tongue-like mold and thereafter reinvert it. Instead, applicant has found that the same quality product can be made with only one inversion, thus saving the time and expense of undertaking two inversions. Applicant has found that, by inspecting the material which is used to make the panels of the bag-like structure before any sewing takes place and actually accomplishing the sewing operation in a way to complete the bag-like structure in an inverted relation, inspection of the quality of the bag-like structure can be achieved by inspecting the seams while the bag-like structure is in its inverted relation so that the bag-like structure can be slid or telescoped onto the tongue-like mold without the bag-like structure ever undergoing an inversion step.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method which embodies the principles and advantages enunciated above capable of making a seat back which includes an interior frame, an exterior bag-like structure extending over the interior frame having a front panel presenting an exterior surface at the front of the interior frame and an opposite interior surface and a back panel presenting an exterior surface at the back of the frame and an opposite interior surface, and a body of foam material between the interior surface of the front panel and the interior frame. This objective is realized by providing a method which comprises the steps of sewing the front panel and the back panel together along sewing seams which are exterior with respect to the interior surfaces of the panels so as to form the bag-like structure in a condition wherein the exterior surfaces of the front and rear panels are generally facing one another, sliding the bag-like structure onto a tongue-like mold while the bag-like structure is in the condition in which the panels thereof were sewn together and without inverting the same in any way so as to bring the exterior surface of the front panel into face-to-face relation with a mold surface of the tongue-like mold, contacting the exterior surface of the front panel with the mold surface of the tongue-like mold to shape the exterior surface of the front panel into conformity with the mold surface of the tongue-like mold, forming the body of foam material on the interior surface of the front panel while the exterior surface thereof is in contact with the mold surface of the tongue-like mold so as to cause the body of foam material to integrally adhere to the front panel, inverting the bag-like structure with the body of foam material adhered to the front panel thereof so that the exterior surfaces of the panels are disposed exteriorly thereof and face generally in opposite directions and the interior surfaces of the panels and the body of foam material are disposed interiorly thereof, and mounting the inverted bag-like structure over the interior frame.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent during the course of the following detailed description and appended claims.